The Ruling on Splitting from the Congregation and Disagreement in Jurisprudential Issues

Question:
May Allah reward you. It is a blessed Friday in this blessed land. It is one congregation by the grace of Allah, but some differences have arisen among us regarding certain issues. They are isolated in their view. The question is: Is it permissible for us to split from this congregation and form a second congregation opposing that original congregation? And is it permissible for us to fight them? I also ask for advice for the brothers who engage in this extremism, knowing that each of these groups worships...

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Disagreement in jurisprudential issues is common, provided it is within the permissible limits and the one disagreeing is a person of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). However, I do not think that in this time, based on what we know of the state of people today, the scarcity of scholars, and the elevation of knowledge in the end times, we know of anyone who is a mujtahid. Rather, they are students of knowledge, some of whom are ignorant and some are beginners. They have not reached the rank of ijtihad and its conditions. The utmost they can do is juristic preference (tarjih). The utmost we can do is tarjih, by taking from the opinions of the Imams and the four schools of jurisprudence what we see agrees with the evidence, and writing down what appears to us to contradict the evidence. It is a matter of tarjih only. If we disagree, and I prefer this and you prefer that based on preferential ijtihad, it is not obligatory for us to become hostile or to sever ties. We are brothers, but you act on what appears to you, and I act on what appears to me. The issue is not a matter of creed; it is a practical matter. For example, folding the hands during the standing in prayer, or extending the hands, or placing them on the chest, or placing them below the navel. All these are matters of ijtihad. They are all also a recommended practice (sunnah). No, if one extends them, it is permissible; folding them is a sunnah; placing them on the chest or below the navel is ijtihad. So hostility in this, and severing ties in this matter, is not permissible. This is the first meaning.
We must know the difference between disagreement in creed and disagreement in jurisprudential issues. In creed, disagreement is not permissible, because it is based on divine revelation; we must adhere to the text in it. And whoever contradicts the Sunnah in creed, we look at him and inform him, because he is an innovator. As for the Messenger, this is a field for ijtihad and education, and the matter in it is broad, praise be to Allah. It does not necessitate hostility, rebellion, or severing ties. It is not permissible to separate because of it, or to be arrogant because of it. This is from ignorance, and it is something that the enemies of Islam sneak upon us. It is a plot by our enemies, so we must be aware of it.